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Strategies & Market Trends : The Final Frontier - Online Remote Trading -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ratan lal who wrote (1680)	12/9/1997 12:45:00 PM
From: Richard Estes	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12617

Buy and hold is good if you buy at the bottom and the stock goes up. Some stocks never see new highs for years. It took IBM 10 years to see the 1987 highs. This bull is the reason for newcomer sucess. You start holding losses, you will be eaten alive. Too many people make funnymentals a part of the process even "day"traders. A daytrader should only be concerned with Price and volume. If a trade is going in your direction, fine. If it isn't going where you want it to go, GET OUT. The fear of taking a loss is the downfall of any trader/investor.

To: ratan lal who wrote (1680)	12/9/1997 12:47:00 PM
From: ams	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 12617

"Please elaborate. If I was a buy-hold type of investor, I would be buying these stocks anyways. Are you suggesting that buy-hold is a bad strategy??" But you weren't buying it as an investment. You were trading it. You were trying to make a quick buck and it didn't work out, get rid of it. Plenty of stocks to trade, why tie up your money until they become profitable, if they become profitable. "BTW, I do sell covered calls on my holdings to make money as long as Ihave the stock. I also sell Puts on stocks that I want to acquire. What is your opinion on selling puts to acquire stocks at a price lower than you are willing to pay at any given moment in time?" Puts, calls, straddles, collars, etc are ways to frustrate yourself. Some people do well on options, I never have and most don't. As for using options to hedge stocks you own, I defer to Gerald Loeb who said "Hedging is a hedge against ignorance." If you think a stock is going up, just buy, forget options. Anyone who buys options to protect his stock don't really know what's going to happen next with any degree of probability and shouldn't be in the stock. When I started using "stops", it took my trading skill to another level. Of course, having an effective stop (and exit strategy)is an art form. Traders that don't have stops, rely on hope and a prayer. Which one are you? Good trading